Doc Savage

Chihuhuas are remarkably aerodynamic.

kkg

I was traveling with my parents who were about 60 years old. Parents were on Y tickets and I was on C ticket on SIN-CMB on SQ. Upon boarding I informed the FA that my mother would take my seat in C. I then sat with my father in Y.

Prior to landing, an FA walked to my seat and asked both my father and me to go take C seats with my mother together, and stay in the C seats until we parked at the gate.

FAs were polite and nice to us all the time. And, guess what, the same happened on our return flight -- except it was my father who took my C seat this time; but again, all three of us were in C during landing.

My parents do not have any mobility problem. There wasn't any language barrier either. My parents didn't ask for the help. They probably had some nervous look on their face prior to landing, as they seldom fly on planes let alone flying "alone" in that cabin.

C being not full with empty seats next to my parents on SQ is another story...

leungy18

Given how rude and unaccommodating airport employees can be, UA is not an airline for a non-frequent-flyer. Much of the flying public has little knowledge of his/her rights and how to maneuver out of a mess.

What happens if it's an 80-year-old grandmother instead of Dr. Dao? She's confused, she (reasonably) expects she was entitled to her seat, she slowly fishes the boarding pass out of her bag...what? Are ORD rent-a-thug cops going to drag her down the aisle?

But some other FTers here have a point: if the 94-year-old is weak to the point of not being able to recline her seat, she really needs a companion near her. Family should've bought another J ticket.

msears101

I hate to defend United. I have so many issues with them. It is pretty clear to me - the 'assistant' was trying to get an upgrade. United does not have Buy one Get one sale ever.

How did the 94 year old get a message back to Y that she needed help?

Keep the complaints coming. I am hoping for a fare sale.

emcampbe

This. I can't imagine there are many 94-year-old people that can fly, much less for a 15 hour flight, without some sort of assistance. If you need to help your flying companion, that's fine, but buy a seat in the same cabin.

That said, if the FA's job description is to help people open their food trays when necessary, they should be able to do that.

One of the things I noticed is this event apparently took place in early Feb., and the story seems to be published on April 13. It seems to be perhaps the family is trying to take advantage of the already negative publicity UA is receiving.

GrayAnderson

As I predicted recently, United is in a very weak position and these cases are coming out of the woodwork. For large enough companies, there are going to be policy-enforcement judgment calls that break the wrong way. The only real question is if the FAs were actually inattentive...which is sadly possible and would present a real reason that policy might need to be bent.

Silver Fox

They tried it on with buying one business ticket, one economy, and thought that they could game the situation. Seen it happen so many times and I am 110% behind United on this. As always there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth.

Gatwick Alan

I have flown United with my disabled father on United from LHR to SFO and back.

My experiences were mixed. The crew were helpful on both flights, particularly the London based crew on the inbound. They were proactive with little features like offering my mum and dad a cup of tea without them asking.

Boarding on the other hand was appalling. We were not allowed to preboard due to some problem with the computer at the desk. When we were allowed to board we were sent down with my dad in his wheelchair with all the other passengers. We had intentionally picked a seat next to the toilet and it was right by door 2L. Both 1L and 2L were in use and we were made to use the airbridge to 1L as this was for premium passengers. When I asked to use 2L I was told do you want to get on this plane or not.

Of course when we went down 1L the flight attendant had to get the aisle wheelchair out to the inconvenience of my dad and the other passengers.

Do I blame Unite, well not really, its all about individuals using common sense.

Maybe United's culture is not to allow people to use common sense.

I can contrast this with my boarding and transfer experiences with AA who were absolutely brilliant.

Grog

I'm not getting this. If I'm in Economy, I don't want F/J passengers coming back and disturbing me either. Same cabin (not same or higher) or it's a no-go.

:D!

My 95-year-old grand-aunt takes 12-hour flights in Y twice a year with no complaints although she is in much better shape than the average 95-year-old.

Grog

It doesn't sound heartless--just a little, well, naive.

To set the stage, I'm able to carry around 35 pounds and, IISSM, I'm not the dumbest box of rocks. I'm not a senior citizen nor is my eyesight-impaired. Yet, I'm had times in a bulkseat where the button to release the in-armrest display was so difficult to trigger that I had to use both hands, lean into it, and put nearly all my strength in to get it to pop out. My wife? No chance and she's nowhere near frail. In business class, I remember being unable to use the remote to recline and also thinking it shouldn't require the passenger studying the instructions for 5 minutes just to lean back a bit.

If we've gotten to the point that calling an FA for help in reclining a seat is considered over-the-top, then we've lost focus on why FAs are even there: to ensure safety and comfort. Not just one or the other.

sonofzeus

Absolutely.
"Common sense" arguments come from the lazy.

GrayAnderson

The real problem with UA's position on this is that one can have two interpretations in a case like this:
(1) There was a UA FA who was being unreasonably inflexible; or
(2) There was a family trying to game the system.

They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but what conclusion one comes to is going to be influenced by what one is generally hearing about the airline (or other company) in question and one's experience.

As an example, Chicago Union Station had, for many Amtrak travelers, a very bad reputation due to staff making up their own rules about who could/couldn't access the lounge (among other issues at the station). So if those of us used to dealing with Amtrak heard about someone being denied access when they said they should have had it, we'd all presume that they had been unfairly excluded. On the other hand, that was a "Chicago-specific" issue and if we heard the same thing in Washington or New York, there's a chance that "bona fide" crowding would have been blamed (especially in New York).

This leads back to me noting, in another thread, how I would have been stunned to have this happen with Virgin America or Virgin Atlantic: My experiences with them have been overwhelmingly positive and I would be inclined to presume that the pax were out of line. With UA my experiences have been middling-to-decent (if not large in number) but the airline has a reputation problem as well.

kawaii

Well, not every airline. There have been instances where I traveled with my father, where my father needed assistance. I had a J seat which I gave up to my father, and the CX crew were more than happy to let me know when my father needed help, so I could go to J and assist. They were also kind enough to report back to me regularly on his status to make sure I was comfortable that he was comfortable. Maybe that's not the letter of the law but it certainly made for much better customer service.

(I will also add that, once, when my father was completely disabled, we upgraded both of my parents Y tickets to J so they could sit next to each other on the flight. Mum told me that was the longest 15 hours ever. :P)

wolf72

I totally understand wanting to make the flight as comfortable for the 94 year old grandmother but you cannot buy 1 business or first class ticket and 1 economy ticket and expect to have business or first access. That does not work and it will get abused.

I have to agree with the airline about their policy on this.

If you want to look after someone in business or first, buy 2 seats together and stay together.